So I've been wondering if I'm doing things efficiently in the artwork department.

I use Columns UI because it is the only browser that allows me to set an external album art folder. I use the following mask:$replace($replace(\Images\Album Art\$if2(%album artist%,%artist%)\$if2(%album%,-)\folder,",-,?,-,*,-,/,-,:,-,>,-,<,-,),...\,\)

This allows me to keep the artwork separate from the music and also allows me to use the same artwork for my main music folder (music) as well as my backup mirror lossless copy (music.flc). In addition to this, I am able to capture artwork at any point during the ripping process and not worry about moving the artwork later if folders needs to be moved/renamed/etc. The cons are tag inaccuracy in the artist/album, which would cause me to have to manually make renames in the artwork folder and the complete lack of compatibility across the board for this style artwork storing.

I get the artwork via the AlbumArtDownloader GUI. Using the foobar browser aspect with the following download folder set: D:\Images\Album Art\%artist%\%album%\folder.jpg

-------------------------------------

I've been thinking about this configuration a lot. Why don't I embed the artwork? Why don't I store the artwork with the music? Certainly all of these have pros, but also a loss of versatility for the sake of compatibility. If I stored the artwork with the music, I'd need to change how I use AlbumArtDownloader from a push methodology to a pull methodology (using the command line version from inside foobar somehow). If I embed the artwork, then I lose a certain visibility that I enjoy right now - where if some software or myself accidently makes modifications to the ID3 tags - right now I see blank album art and immediately am notified of an issue. If the artwork were embedded, I'd never know. In addition to this, I bloat all of my mp3s up and make art acquiring and replacing larger processes.

So I'm curious what others do in comparison - especially if you do something similar but more efficient. Does my setup look crazy?

Another part of the issue is that I'd potentially like to move away from Columns UI if it is deprecated. But I can't mainly for its artwork configuration. It seems musicmusic is the only one who thought an external album artwork folder was a good idea as he added it to both Columns UI and foo_dop and I got spoiled by it.

I use Columns UI because it is the only browser that allows me to set an external album art folder.

that isn't true. it might have been the case before foobar v1 but that's been around 2+ years now. you'd probably have to hardcode the path to the base folder though.

As far as I can tell, the base library view in FB2K will let me enter tons of files to search for within the same directory as the mp3, but it won't let me search outside the mp3's directory the way Columns UI does. But if you know a way please share it.

I have AAD set up to save all downloaded cover art in the folder of the album in question as "folder.jpg". That way I don't have to worry about hidden/automatic retagging ops (like WMP is famous for ) and the artwork is all easily accessible for file operations. I use NexusImage as an external art viewer and it too is accessible via my fb2K GUI with foo_run and the following command: